FLORA

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Why are plants important to vernal pools? While we often focus on the amphibians and macroinvertebrates of vernal pools, the plants are easily as important to the health and diversity of these wetlands. Plants provide structure and habitat for wildlife. Structure provides hiding places, areas to lay eggs, surfaces for other things to grow adding to the complexity of life forms present. Plants help to regulate pool temperature. Most of Ohio’s vernal pools are forested with a tree canopy that shades the forest floor keeping it cooler longer than more exposed locations. Plants also affect wetland hydrology. The hydrology is the length of time, the occurrence and movement of water, the physical and chemical properties of water, and its relationship with the living and material components of the environment. Plants remove water from the soil add it to their tissue as they grow and send much of it on its way through leaf tissue into the atmosphere in a process called evapotranspiration. With leaf growth in the spring the water of vernal pools begins to draw down.

Plants may serve as an indicator of wetland type and quality. An experienced wetland botanist can read the plant community to learn a great deal about the area. High quality plants may indicate that hydrology is undisturbed, or that human impacts (sediment deposition, nutrient enrichment, plant removal, etc.) have been minimal. Specialist plants are indicative of high-quality, intact systems. Some, such as Skunk Cabbage, require cool flowing groundwater, a groundwater seep to become established and to thrive.

Knowing the plant community of vernal pools will give you a better understanding of the health and diversity of the ecosystem. With experience you can assess the initial quality of a vernal pool just as you approach it. Reading the trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants can tell you many things even before you get closer and look beneath the surface for more of its hidden wonders.